Global artists converge to support a good cause at Culture Collide Festival

By Hilary Gridley

Imagine taking a trip around the world to get a firsthand look at the thriving music scenes across continents. Now imagine seeing all the most celebrated bands from these multinational hubs without leaving Los Angeles.

FILTER Magazine’s Culture Collide Festival aims to create that exact experience. Now in its third year, the LA-based festival will return this week — October 4-7 — to bring four days of music, art, film and more from around the world together in Echo Park. The lineup features acts from the US, UK, Sweden, Spain, Netherlands, Thailand, Argentina, Norway, New Zealand, and more. The festival will end with a bang at the all-day block party on October 7, proceeds from which will support 826LA, a nonprofit dedicated to helping kids and teenagers explore their creative talents through writing.

of Montreal

Block party headliners of Montreal and The Wombats have both built successful careers on either side of the Atlantic. The Wombats hail from Liverpool, where their new wave indie rock has produced five top 40 hits over their 10-year career. Athens, Georgia-based of Montreal’s psychedelic indie pop has garnered them a rabid cult following and no shortage of critical acclaim. The stylistic and cultural differences between the bands illustrate perfectly the global potpourri FILTER aims to create with the festival.

Other groups performing at the block party on October 7 include School of Seven Bells (US), Niki and the Dove (Sweden), Bonde do Role (Brasil), DIIV (US), Class Actress (US), Icona Pop (Sweden), Gold Fields (Australia), Colorfeels (US) Morning Parade (UK), Laetitia Sadier (France), Chancellor Warhol (US), Patrick Wolf (UK) and more. The event will also feature LA’s Best Food Trucks, art activities, and prizes.

The block party is free with an RSVP and a $5 suggested donation to 826LA. 826LA will also host the live comedy portions of the festival.

You can secure your ticket to the FILTER Magazine Culture Collide Festival here.

Black Eyed Peas’ Taboo & Sammy Hagar help Little Kids Rock out

Taboo

By Hilary Gridley

When San Francisco public school teacher David Wish set out to do something about the lack of music education funding at his school, he may never have dreamt of collaborating with world-class celebrities. But what started as a small-scale effort to get instruments in the hands of local underprivileged kids has grown over the past 10 years into the leading nonprofit Little Kids Rock, with more than 1200 public school teachers providing free music classes to children in their schools.

A program that has supported music education for upwards of 20,000 public school students in 24 cities deserves a serious celebration, and if anyone knows how to get the party started, it’s Black Eyed Peas member Jaime Gomez, better known to his fans as Taboo.

Taboo will join Little Kids Rock for the Rock Their World Celebration on September 29 at Facebook Headquarters in Menlo Park, California to mark the organization’s decade of service, restoring and revitalizing music education for disadvantaged public schools nationwide. Proceeds from the concert will go toward supporting Little Kids Rock programs, helping ensure the organization’s success continues into the next decade.

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Social Good Summit brings together great minds to solve the world’s toughest problems through technology

Gabriel Jaramillo, General Manager at Global Fund and Mashable's Pete Cashmore

By Laura Ferreiro

The third annual Social Good Summit concluded yesterday, bringing together diplomats, non-profit organizations, musicians, actors, journalists, students and socially responsible businesses for three days of lively discussions about using technology to address global problems. The summit took place at 92Y Community Center in New York City, but the conversation extended far beyond the Big Apple, with participants joining remotely via digital meet-up platforms in far-flung cities including Beijing, Nairobi and Mogadishu.

The event — organized by the United Nations Foundation, Mashable, Ericsson and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation — boasted an incredible number of renowned speakers, including musician Peter Gabriel, actor and UNESCO Good Will Ambassador Forest Whitaker, singer and UNICEF ambassador Angelique Kidjo ambassador, two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof, Olympic Gold Medalist Allyson Felix, Wikipedia Founder Jimmy Wales, author Deepak Chopra, actors America Ferrera, Maria Bello, Mira Sorvino and Alexis Bledel — and surprise appearances by renowned primatologist and UN Peace Messenger Jane Goodall and World Bank President Jim Yong Kim, to name but a few.

Actor and women's rights activist Maria Bello discusses empowering women globally with Brian Sirgutz, Co-Founder & Editor of Huffington Post Impact

The Summit, strategically held during UN Week, brought together global leaders, artists and NGOs to discuss how to use technology to solve the world’s greatest challenges and make the world a better place. Many notable insights were shared about how to use technology to wipe out diseases and help put an end to world poverty and hunger. It even showed how mobile phone technology and social gaming can help women in developing countries learn how and when to get their children vaccinated and teach them life-saving lessons about good hygiene and nutrition.

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Prince Partners with Rebuild the Dream & Janelle Monae for Welcome 2 Chicago Concerts

By Allison Rivers

Starting tonight, Prince — the prolific and famously flamboyant legend himself — will be performing a three-night run of concerts at Chicago’s United Center. The “Welcome 2 Chicago” series of shows will be his first concerts in the Windy City since 2004.

Prince is partnering with Rebuild the Dream, an organization focused on inventing creative solutions to rebuild our broken economy and developing a sustainable community. The Rebuild the Dream Village will showcase local organizations that support sustainability in four key areas — economy, food, community, and planet — and will also feature local art and music through various interactive installations and cultural projects.

“Share your story” booths will be set up in partnership with local Chicago artist Andre Guichard, and fans will have a chance to win Purple Circle VIP Packages. The Rebuild the Dream Village will be incorporated inside and outside the concert at the United Center venue.

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Arcade Fire teams up with Godin Guitars to bring hope to Haiti through music

Arcade Fire visiting Haiti

By Robert Gleim

Arcade Fire recently teamed up with Montreal-based guitar manufacturer Godin Guitars to donate several guitars to the musicians and young people of Haiti. The instruments are meant to give hope and entertainment to the Caribbean country following the devastating earthquake of 2010.

Win Butler, Régine Chassagne, Will Butler, and Marika Anthony-Shaw of the Montreal-based, Grammy Award-winning band have long supported efforts to rebuild Haiti. The troubled country is very close to Arcade Fire’s hearts, especially that of singer/multi-instrumentalist Régine Chassagne, whose family emigrated from Haiti to Canada before she was born.

The band has traveled to Haiti numerous times to perform and offer support. During a visit in March 2011, Arcade Fire performed a show at the Hotel Oloffson in Port-Au-Prince and a concert for several thousand Haitians at the Partners in Health hospital in Cange. They have been avid supporters of the non-profit relief organization for several years.

“We are proud to support the great work that Arcade Fire are doing alongside organizations such as Kanpe and Partners In Health by helping the people of Haiti after such a catastrophe,” says Godin Guitars‘ Press & Artist Relations representative, Richard Bunze. “At the end of the day, we build guitars. That’s what we do, and we’re happy to be able to help out in this way. The people of Haiti have been through so much devastation, so if providing guitars and the ability to make music can bring some form of joy to their lives, then we are happy to do so.”

Video about the Arcade Fire and Godin Guitars collaboration:

Rufus Wainwright, The National to headline concert for marriage equality

Rufus Wainwright

By Hilary Gridley

Wedding singers may not fit everyone’s idea of serious musicians, but what about musicians fighting for everyone’s right to a wedding? Renowned artists Rufus Wainwright, The National, fun., and They Might Be Giants will band together to raise awareness and funds for the issue of marriage equality, performing at the Freedom to Love Now! Concert for Marriage Equality.

Proceeds from the concert, which takes place at New York City’s Beacon Theater on October 30, will benefit Freedom to Marry, which works to end the exclusion of same-sex couples from marriage. Since it was founded in 2003, Freedom to Marry has pursued its Roadmap to Victory by working to win the freedom to marry in more states, grow the national majority for marriage, and end federal marriage discrimination.

In addition to the artists listed above, American folk/blues musician Toshi Reagon and singer/performance artist Mx Justin Vivian Bond will perform at the event. Writer/actor/director John Cameron Mitchell will also team up with his partner, composer Stephen Trask, to DJ a set.

Event organizer Boom for Equality is a live entertainment company that promotes a future where all Americans are treated fairly under the law. Its partnership with Vermont-born pianist and singer Thomas Bartlett was born from a common drive to harness music’s creative energy and channel it for the common good.

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Members of Arcade Fire and The Strokes battle it out on the basketball court for charity

By Allison Rivers

Arcade Fire frontman Win Butler and The Strokes’ bassist Nikolai Fraiture are preparing to battle it out on the basketball court for charity. The second annual POP vs. Jock charity basketball game will take place September 22 at the POP Montreal International Music Festival. Butler will lead Team POP, comprised of musicians and entertainers including Fraiture and actor Martin Starr (“Freaks and Geeks,” “Party Down”) against Team Jock, made up of star basketball players from McGill and Concordia Universities.

Butler’s height (he’s 6’4”) and competitive streak combine with his notorious basketball skills will likely make him a fierce competitor. He takes his basketball seriously and has been known to shoot hoops to relax before shows. During the charity basketball tournament Rock the Court last year, Butler even beat NBA player Matt Bonner in a three-point shooting competition. According to Grantland.com, Butler is a “noted basketball junkie who has long been rumored to have the best game in indie-rock.” That being said, this matchup should be an interesting one.

Butler’s bandmate and wife Régine Chassagne will make a return appearance to provide this year’s organ accompaniment to the basketball competition. David Byrne & Moment Factory will provide the halftime performance.

The event, held at the McGill University Sports Center, will benefit DJ Sports Club, a non-profit youth club focusing on sport, educational, social, and recreation programs for kids in Montreal aged 7-17. Founder and director Dexter O. John grew up in the inner-city himself and understands the urgency of such a program in Montreal. “I knew the [importance] of having a productive place as an alternative to the streets,” he says. “DJ Sports Club is that productive place where hundreds of youth are learning life skills to become effective citizens and leaders.”

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Coldplay team up with Rihanna & Jay-Z at Paralympics closing ceremonies: Video

Coldplay & Rihanna

By Laura Ferreiro

As a culmination of the nearly two weeks of competition in sports including cycling, swimming, sailing and archery by athletes who have a range of physical disabilities, Coldplay performed at tonight’s closing ceremonies of the Paralympic Games.

The band was joined at London’s Olympic Stadium by their pal Jay-Z for a new version of “Paradise,” and Rihanna duetted with Chris Martin on “Princess Of China.” Jay-Z, Rihanna, and Coldplay also joined forces for “Run This Town.”

Check out the video below:

Coldplay is no stranger to supporting great causes. The British band has actively supported Oxfam for several years, advocating for issues including making trade fair to end injustices against poor farmers, and Oxfam’s Hope for Haiti Appeal, calling for funds to help those affected by the country’s severe 2010 earthquake. They also are huge supporters of Amnesty International and worked with Mercy Corps on a benefit album to provide aid to victims of Hurricane Katrina.

Grammy-winning band Ozomatli send socially conscious messages to kids with new “OzoKidz” album

By Allison Rivers

Ozomatli is a band adept at blurring lines. They are bilingual, cross-cultural, a mish-mash of genres including samba, merengue, hip-hop, reggae, and more. Even the line between performers and fans becomes blurred during highly interactive shows. The members of Ozomatli have not only become a voice for their native Los Angeles, they are also Cultural Ambassadors for the U.S. State department, traveling the world and promoting politically and socially conscious issues through their music.

Ozomatli has a long history of political and social activism. Originally forming as a band to perform at a labor protest in the 1990s, these three-time Grammy winners got their start performing at activist events and fundraisers. Their music has put a spotlight on issues such as gang violence, immigration, and Hurricane Katrina. One of their goals is to create a sustainable inner-city arts program, of which they are a product.

In 2007, Ozomatli’s outreach stretched beyond Los Angeles and became global as they embraced their role as Cultural Ambassadors for the U.S. State Department. They got the opportunity to perform in often-overlooked countries such as China, Nepal, Tunisia, India, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam and participated in extensive humanitarian outreach including HIV/AIDS clinics, orphanages, earthquake aid, and concerts to benefit disadvantaged youth.

“Ozomatli has spent 15 years working diligently to spread its message of peace, communication and understanding through music, with a long standing tradition of performing for children all over the world,” their website states, and this September Ozomatli plans to release a new kind of album.

Ozomatli is again blurring genres and audiences by releasing “OzoKidz,”  an album geared towards kids but still full of their signature social message.

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Virgin Mobile FreeFest with Jack White, Santigold, Skrillex offers free tickets to volunteers

By Hilary Gridley

Some events have tickets so sought-after, snagging them requires the perfect storm of a lightning-fast internet connection, a fluency in captcha, and a lot of luck.

Tickets for Virgin Mobile FreeFest disappeared a record two minutes after going on sale in August, but those who failed to hit “refresh” at exactly the right moment can still catch Jack White, Skrillex, M83, ZZ Top and more at the October 6 event by giving a few hours back to their community.

Now through September 28, anyone can sign up for a free ticket by volunteering at an approved homeless shelter in Maryland, Virginia, or Washington through Virgin Mobile’s FREE I.P. program. Participants will help with a range of activities, including assembling bag lunches and snack baskets, painting and gardening to brighten up youth homeless shelters, and donating school supplies or other needed items.

This year’s concert will also feature artists including Santigold, Alabama Shakes, Ben Folds Five, Porter Robinson and Nas.

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